OTTAWA — B.C.’s natural resources sector, including the budding liquefied natural gas industry, was declared to be in Canada’s strategic interests Monday as part of a non-binding federal-provincial deal that includes a commitment to encourage the active use of the Temporary Foreign Worker program.

The accord was signed as Premier Christy Clark, bringing with her what she described as possibly the largest B.C. delegation to Ottawa in Canadian history, declared that the LNG sector could be a “nation-builder” at least as important as Alberta’s oil wealth.

But she said that the industry’s enormous LNG potential depends on access to skilled Canadian and, if necessary, foreign workers.

Without that workforce the industry could look for other opportunities, she warned.

“You cannot build an economy without people who are trained and ready to take those jobs,” she told a gathering of federal and B.C. politicians.

The memorandum of understanding says Canada’s resources industry “is a significant economic catalyst in rural and remote regions that is becoming increasingly important to British Columbia’s economy and strategically important to Canada’s economic future.”

The growing global demand for those resources, including LNG, “has created a highly competitive global environment, requiring Canada and British Columbia to move quickly and responsibly to ensure Canada’s energy industry is export-ready.”

The meeting, and an elaborate signing ceremony between B.C. and federal ministers, appeared designed to send a message to industry that the federal and B.C. governments will move aggressively to ensure that Canada’s training, educational, and especially immigration policies will help the LNG sector expand.

But both Clark and her federal cabinet colleagues stressed that the temporary workers won’t be allowed to take jobs away from qualified Canadians.

The TFW has been plagued by abuses, and the federal government has recently taken steps to toughen sanctions against employers who use it to abuse vulnerable foreign workers and drive down wages.

“Our commitment is this: British Columbians first, Canadians second, and then when we have maxed out every opportunity to put Canadians to work on these projects we will need to begin to look oversees for temporary workers,” she told reporters after speaking to a gathering of LNG industry executives, First Nations leaders, federal MPs and senior federal ministers and officials.

B.C. wants at least three LNG terminals in operation by 2020, and is anxious to quell industry concerns about potential wage inflation that hurt the industry in Australia.

B.C. Jobs Minister Shirley Bond said the industry executives who expressed that concern were impressed with the level of cooperation shown here Monday by both levels of government.

“What we’re trying to avoid is what happened in Australia” where wage inflation caused by a shortage of workers created “significant issues,” Bond told The Vancouver Sun.

“We’re hearing today (from industry attending the session) that this is the first time we’ve seen this kind of cooperation early in the process, where both senior levels of government understand this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and we need to be working together.”

David Keane, an executive with BG Canada, one of the LNG proponents, and a member of Clark’s working group on labour-related LNG issues, said the industry doesn’t want to be faced with the kind of “overly restrictive immigration policies” that caused problems in Australia.

“I think the federal government is working with the provincial government so we can address those issues,” said Keane.

Bond said Victoria is enthusiastic about the federal government’s new “expressions of interest” immigration program, which takes effect next January.

That program will actively prioritize foreigners who have skills being sought by Canadian companies.

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Federal-provincial accord on LNG industry includes use of foreign workers

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